


Racing Isn't Supposed to be a Family Game

by mjrqt93



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Car Racing, Angst, Developing Relationship, Drama & Romance, Established Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 18:13:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mjrqt93/pseuds/mjrqt93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester is one of the best drivers in the Stock Car Racing League and is working for another championship. Helping him is his brother, Sam Winchester, and his boss/adoptive brother, Castiel Novak. The only thing that could affect the boys' plans are the Callahan sisters, Lily and Julia, and their rival cousin, Alexzandra Paschka. Will the boys find love or will they crash and burn?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to be a kind of long saga so please leave comments! They'll keep me going. I am a statistician by trade and have no Beta so any mistakes are mine and mine alone.
> 
> You can also find me at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/spn05winchester

The alarm in Sam Winchester’s hotel room went off but before he could reach out to turn it off, the brunette in his bed turned it off for him before snuggling back into his warm chest. Awake but not willing to move her, he just stroked her hair and stared up at the ceiling as he mentally ran through his to-do list for the day.

With her eyes still shut, Julia Callahan said, “I swear I can actually hear your brain working, Sam.”

With a laugh, he kissed her head. “Sorry, sweetie but as you know, it’s race day. It’s gonna be a long day.”

“Exactly. We won’t be able to be like this again until tonight after the race,” she whined.

“At least we don’t have to fly back until tomorrow,” Sam pointed out.

“Well, I’ll need something to tide me over so I can concentrate today,” Julia said coyly.

“Hmm…that I can do,” he said as he pulled her on top of him and brought her mouth down to his. He took on one her breasts in his hand and rubbed his calloused thumb over her nipple. She gasped against his mouth and ran her hand down his abs to slip underneath his boxers. Just as she took him into her hand, they were interrupted by a pounding on the door.

“Rise and shine, Sammy!” Dean yelled through the door. “Jules, you too! We’re burning daylight.”

With a groan, Julia rolled off Sam and just stared at the ceiling. “I’m gonna kill him,” she said through gritted teeth.

30 minutes later, Sam and Julia walked down into the hotel lobby and were waved over to a table by Sam’s brother. “Morning guys! I hope I didn’t interrupt anything!” Dean said with a shit-eating grin. His grin only got wider at Julia’s glare and Sam’s one-fingered salute. He looked up as Castiel came back to the table with a cup of coffee. “I told you they were already awake! Pay up!”

Castiel Novak, COO of Novak Racing, sighed and handed over a $10 bill. “I don’t know why you get such perverse pleasure out of torturing them,” he said after nodding his hellos to the frowning couple.

“Ahh, it’s not torture,” Dean said dismissively. “I’m just making sure they don’t make me a niece or nephew because that’ll get awkward when Julia finally realizes she wants to be with the cuter brother.”

Not able to resist his charm, she laughed in response. The conversation slipped comfortably into strategy for the upcoming race in the Nevada desert. Julia jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, her heart rate quickly returned to normal when she realized it was her cousin. “Hey, slut,” she said jokingly.

“Hey yourself, hooker. Just wanted to tell you to be careful. Make sure you wear sunscreen today, it’s not supposed to be awful but a ‘mick’ like you could burn from a lightbulb,” Alexzandra Paschka replied.

“Oh, eat my Irish ass, Russki,” Julia replied with a laugh. “Are you gonna be cool enough?” she looked at Zany’s outfit. As a spotter, Julia was usually subjected to the worst that Mother Nature could throw at a race. But as crew members, Zany and Sam, dealt more with track temperatures, which like today in Las Vegas, could reach over 100 degrees. And while crew and car chiefs didn’t have to wear regulation fire suits, they could still get pretty damn hot just by wearing their team polos and black pants.

“Yep. Hopefully it won’t be too bad and the rain hold off. You guys flying back tonight too?” At her cousin’s head shake, she swore. “Shit. Lucky. Do you want me to take your laundry back with me so I can con Lily into doing yours too?” she asked, referring to her other cousin, Julia’s sister. She smiled when Julia handed over a copy of her and Sam’s room key. “There’s not going to be any freaky sex shit in there right?”

“Nope. No freaky sex shit,” Sam interjected. “You can thank my brother for that.”

Zany smiled and patted Sam’s shoulder. “You take it easy out there too, Sam.”

“Will do Zany, thanks.” Sam said sincerely.

Zany uncomfortably cleared her throat before turning to Castiel, “Uh, good luck out there, Mr. Novak.”

“Please, Zany. Call me Castiel. Good luck and be careful.”

“Yes sir.” Before she left, Julia stood and pulled her cousin into a hug. The three guys watched as the cousins held each other for a long minute before kissing each other on the cheek. They all thought it was a little irrational for a spotter and a car chief to worry so much about each other but the bond those two had built made it sweet nonetheless.

Zany turned to leave when Dean finally spoke cockily, “So Paschka, any tips on how to beat your driver again?”

She heard the sigh from Sam, telling her that his brother, the team driver, had already annoyed him today. She responded to Dean’s smug smirk with a raised eyebrow and said, “I don’t know, Dean. Have you ever tried pulling your head out of your ass?” Ignoring the howls of laughter from the table, she turned and walked to the elevators to get Julia’s laundry before she headed back to her own hotel.

Dean watched her leave with a frown on his face. “What’s her problem?” he asked caustically.

“Oh, I don’t know Dean, do you think it has anything to do with the fact that everything you say to her is something rude about her working for another team?” Sam replied sarcastically.

“I mean, she works for freaking Crowley!” Dean replied. “She can’t actually enjoy working there!”

Julia knew that her cousin did not enjoy working where she did but after innumerable arguments of trying to get her to come to Novak’s team had failed, she had simply given up. “It’d be amazing how much leaving her alone would benefit the both of you,” she told Dean.

Dean’s probably-vulgar reply was lost as he mumbled into his coffee. He hadn’t slept well last night and he knew he needed his energy if he had any shot at winning today’s race. He leaned back in his chair as he looked at the couple and felt the familiar tug of jealousy in his chest that was always quickly followed by shame. Ever since Lisa had left him and taken Ben, after revealing that Ben wasn’t even his son, it seemed as if racing was all he had left. Sammy had Julia and didn’t need him and Cas to look out for him anymore.

_I just wish I had someone to talk to about how lost I feel. But I’m white-knuckling it here because I’m the face of this team and can’t begin to slow down_ , he thought with a frown. _Sammy’s my little brother; I can’t put this on him. And Cas is my boss, if I fall apart anymore, he’ll catch shit for it._ Pulled out of his dark thoughts by his brother’s voice, “Uh, sorry. What?”

“Julia invited the three of us to dinner at her house,” Sam repeated.

“Actually, it was Lily’s idea,” Julia added, “It was actually the kitchen that made her convince us to sign the lease with her. So she thought it’d be nice to have a family dinner with the seven of us.”

“Seven?” Castiel asked confusedly.

“Yeah, well, Zany asked if Jacob could come too,” she replied with a frown, “And I couldn’t think of a way to say no.”

“Sweetheart,” Sam softly chastised, “There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s up to her to change things.”

“What’re you talking about?” Dean asked.

Julia sighed. “Zany’s boyfriend, Jacob Davis, he’s on the pit crew for the #66. Something about him just rubs Lily and me the wrong way; especially the way he treats her.”

“What does he do?” Castiel asked curiously.

She replied, “He’s rough with her but not so much that we can really say anything.” At their confused faces, she explained, “Like, for instance, one time he wanted to go out but she wanted to just catch a movie on the couch, and when they started to argue, he squeezed her hand, really hard. I could’ve sworn I heard her knuckles cracking from the pressure and finally she just got up and got ready to go out and do what he wanted. And when I tried bringing it up the next day, she just blew me off.”

The table sat in awkward silence until Bobby Singer, the team manager, walked over. “Get the lead out of your asses,” he joked, “We got a race to win!”

Laughing, they all stood and headed over to the SUVs that would take the team to the racetrack. Julia stood to the side as Dean and Sam started arguing about who would get shotgun in the car and resorted to their usual negotiation method of “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Laughing victoriously after crushing Dean’s scissors with his rock, he walked up to the passenger door only to stop surprised when he saw his girlfriend already occupying the seat.

Blowing him a kiss through the window, she made sure to scoot the seat up so he would have at least some legroom by sitting behind her. Shaking her head at the grumbling as three fairly large men squeezed into the backseat and looked at her phone as it indicated she had gotten a text.

“Be careful out there! Tell everyone I said good luck.”

Smiling at her sister’s message, she quickly responded and put her phone away. Leaning her head back on the headrest, she closed her eyes and let her mind go blank since she was going to have to be laser-focused for the next nine hours.

As the car came to a stop, she got out and stretched before walking with the boys towards Pit Lane. As they walked by Crowley Enterprises’ pit, she gave a quick wave to her cousin who was chatting away with her team engineer, Meg Masters. Getting to their pit, she greeted the rest of the Novak team who had also made the trip from their headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Kevin, the head engineer, was conversing with Charlie and Garth, the respective engine and tire specialists. After returning their waves, she headed over to the car chief, Benny, as he was starting an argument with Bobby.

“What’s the problem? Is the car alright?” she asked in an attempt to cut the mounting tension.

“Car’s fine, Chere,” Benny replied in his Louisiana drawl, “Just trying to convince your mop-headed boyfriend that I might actually know what I’m doing after 6 years in the business.”

Julia rolled her eyes. _So, it’s the usual then_ , she thought. Sam and Benny got along alright…usually. Every once in a while, their testosterone would make them swell up and butt heads about who knows what’s actually right for the car. As Julia had pointed out to Sam numerous times, Benny knew the car better and it was Sam’s instincts and Benny’s execution of those instincts on the car that had help get the team two championships in the past 4 years. No one could deny that Benny was one of the best, with Zany being the only car chief better than him in Julia’s biased opinion. The three of them stood in awkward silence for a while until Benny went over to Garth to talk about the tires in the Nevada heat.

“Remind me why I put up with these idjits?” Bobby growled, interrupting her thoughts.

“Because you’re the team manager?” she laughed, “Or are you considering early retirement?”

“You watch your mouth, young’un. I’ll retire when I’m dead.” Bobby replied.

He meant what he said, he really couldn’t imagine doing anything but taking care of everyone and working on the more organizational aspects of the team that Sam and Castiel didn’t have time for. He had been annoyed enough when he was convinced into handing over the crew chief position to Sam in some sort of pseudo-semi-retirement arrangement but he’d be damned before he voluntarily entered the nursing home.

He had been a part of the Novak Racing family for almost 30 years now. He had worked with Sam and Dean’s father, John as his crew chief for years until John’s death. The memories of that crash still nagged at him if he let them. He knew it was unfair to worry about Sam and Dean going into the same business that had killed their father but honestly, what did he expect? When John died, his ex-wife, Mary, turned her back on her own sons and left them for Bobby and Chuck Novak to raise. In retrospect, raising the boys in the racing life and then expecting them to leave it was incredibly short-sighted of him.

Bobby looked around the pit and realized just how large his family had gotten. There was not a single person on this team that he didn’t see as a son, or daughter. With a frown, he glanced towards Crowley’s pit and saw Alexzandra in yet another argument with her crew chief, Alastair. Shaking his head, he watched them argue until Julia spoke again.

“How’s Jody doing?” she asked about his wife.

“She’s doing alright. Had some pretty rough abuse cases awhile back but hell if I’m gonna point out that she chose to be a social worker.”

With a quick frown, Julia nodded in response. At a loss for words, she turned to talk to Sam before he had to go with Dean to the League’s pre-race meeting but was stopped by his hand on her shoulder. “Tell that cousin of yours to pick up the phone every once in a while. I can keep track of you and Lily easily enough but I haven’t talked to the main troublemaker in a bit.”

With a laugh, she gave him a hug and kissed him on his hairy cheek. “Yes, Grandpa Bobby!” she teased before heading off towards Sam, ignoring Bobby’s protests and threats behind her. Walking up to Sam, she asked, “Heading off soon?”

He nodded. He was still kind of pissed about his argument with Benny but he knew better than to bring it up to her. She had this refreshing way of putting things into perspective for him and right now, he didn’t want to realize that he could possibly have been in the wrong.

“You heading over to the hauler?” he asked, referring to the semi trailer that transported the car from race to race. As a spotter, he knew Julia felt awkward and in the way when she was in the pit so she tried to make herself as scarce as possible before she had to go up to her spotter’s post at the top of the stands. When she nodded, he tilted her chin up and gently kissed her. “I love you. See you after the race…don’t forget we have to finish what we started this morning…”

Her voice hitched with desire. “Yes sir…I love you too,” she replied before he walked off with his brother. Heading towards the haulers, she started pushing everything besides Dean’s car and the race out of her mind. Her job was hard but she loved it anyway. She had to stand for extended periods of time and her breaks were basically non-existent because any lapses in her concentration could have serious consequences to Dean on the track.

She mainly sat in silence but exchanged niceties with member of other teams that happened to walk by. After a few peaceful hours, she heard the announcement for driver introductions and knew that was her signal to head up to her spotter’s post. As she made her way through the crowd that had multiplied in the pits since she had left, she noticed Zany waving at her. Returning the wave, she kept going and didn’t hear Zany calling her name.

When she got up to the post, she chatted with a few other spotters before putting on her headphones and tuning into her team’s radio. Ignoring the roar of the crowd as their favorite racers were introduced one by one, she checked in with the race director to assure that Novak Racing’s spotter was where she needed to be. The rest of the pre-race ceremony passed in a non-spectacular fashion. When the grand marshal gave the order for the drivers to start their engines, she took one last deep breath before she spent the next 5 hours tense while serving as Dean’s eyes on the track.

When the green flag waved, she talked Dean through the first few laps as drivers all pushed and shoved at 200 miles an hour for ideal track position. Once traffic started to thin out as the pole sitter put some distance between himself and the rest of the pack, she remembered to put more sunscreen on. Laughing at Zany’s intuitiveness, she could already feel a slight burn forming on the back of her neck and arms. Half of the race had passed with Dean sitting pretty in fifth place when out of nowhere the driver in fourth place pulled a “bump and run” on Christian Campbell who had been in third place. As she started to warn Dean that his front quarter-panel was lining up with Christian’s rear panel, Dean’s car suddenly jerked to the right, hitting Christian’s car and sending it into a spin.

“Shit!” she said as the yellow caution flag came out and all the cars slowed down. She saw that the side of Dean’s car was pretty scraped up from going up the track and sliding against the wall. She carefully talked him to pit lane without getting his car damaged anymore. Realizing the work needed on the car was going to make this a longer than normal pit stop, she slid her headphones off for a second and rubbed her temples. When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she looked over and groaned internally when she saw it was Raphael, Christian Campbell’s spotter with his usual smug look on his face.

“What do you want?” she asked brusquely.

“Nothing. I was going to ask you how your boyfriend managed to keep his brother on such a tight leash after what happened in the pits. But I think I have my answer now.”

“What happened?” she asked cautiously not wanted her conversation to be picked up by the other spotters.

“Your boy didn’t tell you? Christian and Lisa have finally decided to make their relationship public and they chose this fine day to make their debut. Sweet, don’t you think?” Leaving it at that, he slid his own headphones back on and headed back to his spot.

_Goddammit, Dean. What the hell did you just do?_ She thought sadly. Closing her eyes in relief, she realized that there had been no radio chatter about it. _At least this way, he can try and say that it was a legitimate accident and not an intentional wrecking._ She knew that Sam had to be livid right about now. Sam had just been telling her that he thought Dean was over the breakup. Apparently Dean’s been basically sleeping his way through Charlotte and taking advantage of the track bunnies that hung around all day in the hopes of sleeping with a driver.

Looking over the track she saw Christian’s car heading into the garage, indicating that it was in need of some serious and quick repairs. She shook her head sadly when she realized that Zany’s day just got worse. _Shit, Zany. Was she trying to warn me when I was headed up here?_ Before she could think about it any longer, she heard the radio crackle back to life as Dean’s car was as repaired as it could be. Guiding him back onto the track, she pushed her cousin and Christian and Lisa and Ben out of her head as she started spotting him more actively than he usually liked as they worked together to gain back some of the track position they had lost. Hopefully, their day wasn’t over yet.

 

The screaming in Crowley Enterprises’ garage made Zany wish her day was over. Lisa was screaming at Christian for letting himself get hit by her ex-boyfriend, Christian was screaming at Alastair for how much track position he was losing, and Alastair was screaming at her for being too incompetent to get the car fixed. Biting her tongue so hard that she swore she tasted blood, she just turned back to the car and started helping the engineers and pit crew try to tape this car back together. She and Meg grabbed a jagged piece of metal hanging off the car and carefully bent it as far back into place as they could before Jacob handed her the duct tape and she taped as much down as possible. Standing, she pulled off her gloves to wipe the sweat off her face.

“That’s the best we can do,” she said to Alastair.

“It’s about fucking time!” Lisa yelled at her.

Zany scowled in response. _What the fuck is she doing here? Why didn’t she stay up in the pit stall with Uriel?_ “Why don’t you do everyone a favor and fuck off?” she yelled back. Ignoring the stares of her team, she watched Lisa huff and stomp away towards the pit stall.

Zany certainly wasn’t Dean Winchester’s #1 fan but having heard from her cousin exactly what Lisa had done to Dean in the offseason, she couldn’t help but hate the pretty brunette. _There’s a special place in Hell for women who let another man raise their child until the real father gets a divorce from his wife._ Realizing that she was probably extra bitter since she had grown up without a father but Lisa had managed to get two father figures into her son’s life, she turned away to wash her hands before pulling her gloves back on.

Addressing the crew that was slowly shuffling back towards the pit, she said loudly, “Good job guys! We’ve done our part to fix this mess!” She arched her back to crack it and followed her team out to the pit. _It’s going to be a long fucking day_.

 

“I have spoken to our driver, Mr. Winchester, since his last race and let me assure you that he is, in fact, very sorry for his actions that could have injured Mr. Christian Campbell and damaged the #66 Crowley Enterprises car. He has reached out to Mr. Crowley and Mr. Campbell to extend his apologies. If there are any other questions, I believe they can be directed to our CEO, Mr. Gabriel Novak. Thank you.”

As Lily Callahan walked off the press conference stage, she made the mental note to call Crowley and Christian to apologize for Dean. She knew he never would. And almost as if she dreamed him up, her own personal devil called.

“Yes, Dean?” she asked with a sigh evident in her voice.

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN, I APOLOGIZED TO THOSE ASSHOLES?!” Dean shouted into the phone as Castiel and Sam sat in the car with him shaking their heads.

“Dean, I’m calling to apologize for you so your fragile ego will remain intact. Now in the meantime, I need you to shut up and listen to me very carefully if you want to avoid anything worse than your usual fines. Talk to Sam and see if he can convince Bobby and the boys to claim that you were having issues with the car that you were keeping off of the radio.”

“Why the hell would I do that? That fucker deserved it. Now, how about you do your damn job and make this go away?”

Before Lily could even begin to defend herself, she heard the sound of a struggle over the phone. As she looked at her manicure and less-than-patiently waited for someone to talk to her again, she heard her name being called through the phone. “Ms. Callahan, are you still there?”

“Yes, I am Mr. Novak. I believe we’ve had this conversation numerous times. I am not a magician. I cannot take someone like Dean and turn him into America’s Sweetheart. Especially if he continues being an absolute asshole. If your driver says anything like that about me again, I will kill him and then quit. In that order. I understand he has been through a hard time since he found out that Lisa is now with Christian but that does NOT mean he gets to disparage me, his own brother’s girlfriend’s sister, at every turn.” she said recognizing the deep voice as Castiel Novak, basically one of her bosses. But she was too mad to care to whom she was speaking. Her temper was usually nothing due to her self-control but if not careful, her Russian-Irish background combined to make a hell of a shitstorm.

“Well I don’t believe I need to find bail money or a new PR Liaison anytime soon because Sam seems to be proving that point to Dean right now.” Castiel said with a smile in his tone as Lily finally recognized the background sounds as another infamous Winchester scuffle. “Actually, Ms. Callahan, there is one more thing. Are you available for dinner tomorrow night at 8?”

Lily froze, amazed that Castiel Novak, Chief Operating Officer, would be asking her out on a date. She realized that this had to be violating more than a few ethical boundaries. He was her boss’ boss’ boss. She realized that she had been silent for a while. “Umm…I would have to check my schedule. Can I get back to you tomorrow morning?”

“Absolutely” Castiel replied. “Just call my office and let Hannah know if that works for you. She’ll give you all of the details. I think they’re just about out of punches now so I’ll let you go. Have a great day Ms. Callahan.”

“You too Mr.—“ she stopped as she realized that he had already hung up the phone. _Well that was weird. At least I’m seeing Zany tonight so I can talk this over with her before I have to tell Mr. --- Castiel about dinner_ , she thought.

She lost her train of thought as her phone vibrated signaling a text. She read, “Sorry about Dean. He’s going through a hard time but that doesn’t mean we have to put up with him talking about you like that.” Lily smiled as she read Sam’s text. The whole company may be going to hell, she’s going on a date with her boss, and something was up with Zany, but at least her sister had a great man willing to stand up for what’s right.

 

After the race, Sam walked into the hotel room he shared with Julia, completely beat. After the day he’d had, he was more than a little upset that she hadn’t even waited for him before leaving the track. She had caught a ride with Garth and Kevin, leaving him on his own to try not to kill his own brother. In the car on the way back, him and Dean had one of their infamous screaming matches that Castiel stoically stayed out of.

He just leaned against the door and just collected himself. He knew they were going to have one of their just-as-infamous “brother moments” to apologize for the things they had said to each other but for now, Sam still couldn’t believe Dean had pulled such a dumbass stunt over the cheating bitch he claimed to have moved past.

He heard the bathroom door open and opened his eyes to see his girlfriend coming out in just a bra and panty set as she towel-dried her short hair. “Hey, you,” he said huskily.

“Hey, yourself,” she replied casually, “Did you have your fight with Dean?”

“I—uhh---yeah. Is that why you caught a ride with Garth and them? You knew we were going to have a fight?” He asked, deciding not to tell Julia that Dean had gone off on Lily.

“I love that you still think I don’t know you well. I didn’t want to be in the middle of that shitshow.”

He huffed. “Some shitshow it was too.”

“You want a beer, Hon?”

“I don’t want a beer.” He leaned forward, slid his hand around her waist and pulled her against his chest. “You know what I want, Julia.”

Her hands slid up the front of his shirt and she grasped both his shoulder under her short fingernails. Her lips parted and he fed her a slick, devouring kiss that slammed into her and raised her to the balls of her feet. His tongue touched and teased as his hand moved through her wet hair and down her back, drawing her closer, until the hard bulge of his erection pressed into her stomach.

An acquiescent moan came from her throat as she kissed him back and surrendered to the desire bigger than her ability to hold it back. Not that she even really wanted to try. The sound of her moan triggered a sudden response, as if he’d been waiting for it. Within seconds, his hands were everywhere, touching her anywhere within reach. Somehow she ended up with her back against the door and their lips parted long enough for her to pull his shirt over his head. Then he was against the door once again with his hand on her breasts and his fingers brushing her nipples through the satin of her bra.

She groaned and leaned forward to kiss his throat as her hands slid up and down his bare sides. He responded by moving his hands to her thighs and lifting. Through the soft fabric of his pants, his erection pressed into the crotch of her black lace panties. He kissed her as they moved towards the couch in their suite. His hands held her ass as he carried her to the sofa. She lowered her feet to the floor and slid her mouth to the side of his throat. She pushed him onto the couch and one brow rose up her forehead as she let her own gaze slip from the hollow of his throat to the defined chest muscles covered in light brown skin. A dark-brown happy trail led her gaze down his hard six-pack abs and tanned stomach, past his navel, and to the waistband of his pants. She slid her hand beneath his white boxer briefs and wrapped her hand around his hot, thick shaft and with her free hand, she shoved his pants and underwear down his thighs. Her thumb slid up and down the thick cord of his penis.

“Shit,” he hissed between his teeth. Then his mouth sought hers and the warm male scent of him filled her nose and she breathed him deep into her lungs. He smelled like adrenaline and outside and he tasted like sex. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back, smashing her breasts against his chest. “Damn,” he said, his voice strained, his breathing rapid. “Slow down or I’ll beat you to the finish line. As it is, I’ll probably only last five seconds.”

He let go of her and removed his pants, underwear, and the socks from his feet. Naked, he was beautiful. Even the various scars from working on the cars only made him seem more perfect. When he bent to grab his wallet from the pocket of his pants, she had an urge to lean forward and bite him. She took the condom from him, ripped open the plastic pouch, and took out the lubed ring of latex. She positioned it over the plump head of his cock and slowly rolled it down to the base of his shaft. “Sit back, Sam,” she said. When he obeyed, she pushed her panties down her hips. He watched them slide down her legs, then his gaze slid back up to her crotch.

“You’re beautiful, Julia.” He reached for her, and she knelt, straddling his lap. He kissed her stomach. “All over.” He cupped her crotch and brushed between her legs with his fingers. “Especially here.” He held his erection with one hand and pushed her down with the other. She moaned as she felt the head of his cock, smooth and hard and hot. He slid partway into her, and her body resisted the intrusion. She was so ready for him that there was only intense pleasure. She placed her hands on the sides of his neck and lowered herself until she was seated to the hilt. Sensation slashed through her body, from the top of her head to her toes. Her eyes closed and she squeezed her muscles around every solid inch of him, content to glory in the length of Sam buried deep within her.

Evidently, he was not as content. One second she was squeezing him, taking her time, and in the next she was on her back on the sofa, staring up into his face. He had one foot planted on the floor and was still deeply embedded inside her. “This is the part where all you have to do is breathe.” He pulled out almost completely, only to thrust so deep she felt him against her cervix. “Is this enough for you?” A deep groan tore through his chest and echoed her own pleasure. “Or do you want more?”

She wrapped one leg around his back. “I want more,” she whispered as he began to move, setting a perfect rhythm of pleasure. “That feels so good.” She licked her dry lips. “What happens if I stop breathing and pass out?”

With his face just above hers, he said, “I’ll wake you when it’s over.”

Her chuckle turned into a long moan as he moved faster and every cell in her body focused on the shaft pounding into her. Faster, harder, and more intense. Over and over. His harsh breath brushed her cheek and he drove into her. Caressing and building sensation. Stroking her inside all at once. She moved with him, matching thrust for thrust. In and out again and again. Caught up in the hot pleasure she never wanted to end, she didn’t know how long they’d been going at it until he said, “Julia.” His voice was harsh, ravaged. “Honey, are you just about there?”

Before she could answer, she cried out as an exquisite climax crashed over her, flushing her body with heat. She saw and heard nothing over the pounding in her chest and head. Her inner muscles clenched and drew him deeper. He drove into her harder and harder, pushing her up the couch until he too climaxed. An explosion of curses were forced from his throat and collided with the sound of intense male pleasure, primal and possessive. With one last thrust he slid his arms beneath her shoulders and crushed her tight against his chest.

Julia threw her head back and stared at the ceiling as her nails ran lightly up and down Sam’s back. When she had finally caught her breath, she asked him, “So…you feeling better?”

Sam raised his head and shook the hair out of his eyes as he tried to gauge whether or not she was kidding. When she smirked at him, he returned the smile. “Much better. What do you say we ignore everyone, order room service, and stay in tonight?”

Her smile got bigger. “Samuel Winchester, you just read my mind.”

 

Zany handed her luggage off to the baggage handler and grimaced in apology when he grunted at the extra weight from Julia’s laundry. Boarding the team plane, she made her way to a window seat and sat down. The team mood was more somber than usual. They were never able to get back to their former track position. By the time the checkered flag had waved and Christian had come in 24th, everyone was just ready to leave Las Vegas behind and get ready for Arizona next week. When Jacob boarded and indicated that he was going to sit in the back and play poker with some of the other pit crew guys, she shrugged in indifference. She knew she should care but she was too tired to do anything right now. She closed her eyes and put in her headphones to let Diana Ross sing some of her stress away.

Over six hours later, she finally walked into the house she rented with her cousins. Groaning, she laid down on the couch and was ready to just sleep there when she heard Lily say, “Oh no, you have a perfectly good bedroom upstairs to go sleep in.”

“What are you, my mother?” she growled in response.

“You and Julia certainly act like it,” Lily said as she began sorting through Zany’s luggage for their dirty laundry. She knew Zany didn’t actually expect her to do her laundry but she also knew that her cousin would procrastinate doing her laundry for so long that she would resort to borrowing her clothes. She was only a few inches shorter than her cousin but she was never too happy to have her clothes stretched out by Zany’s full chest and hips.

When she noticed Zany starting to doze off again, she turned on the TV and switched to SportsCenter knowing that Zany would stay awake and keep her ears perked for the mention of Stock Car Racing League. She went down into the basement to start the laundry and when she returned it was just cycling back to SCRL. Unsurprisingly, the top news piece was Dean Winchester’s crash with Christian.

“Ugh. I hate the sound of my own voice.” Lily said as she came up behind Zany and watched herself on the TV screen.

“Hey, I didn’t hear you come back.” Zany told her cousin, “You did manage to spin it into a simple misunderstanding. You think the League officials will buy it?”

“Hopefully. When I spoke to Castiel, he told me that even the sponsors are beginning to worry about his antics…not that I would have done anything differently today if I was him.”

“Trust me, she’s still just as much of a bitch as Julia said she was when she was with Dean. She got in my face and started screaming at me while we were trying to jimmy-rig the car.” As an afterthought she added, “Since when do you call him ‘Castiel’?”

“Uh, well, that’s what he asked me to call him…because he asked me to dinner tomorrow night,” she admitted with a blush.

Zany’s attention was finally drawn away from the television. “Wait, what? You’re going on a date with Castiel Novak?”

“I mean, I shouldn’t right? He’s my boss’ boss’ boss or something. It’d be really unprofessional.”

“I don’t know about that. Jules and I are dating in the workplace,” Zany shrugged. “And it’s at least working out for her…” she mumbled sullenly.

“What do you mean? What’s going on with Jacob now?” Lily asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Nothing serious,” Zany dismissed, “Back to you. You have a thing for him don’t you? If I were you, I’d give it a chance and if it doesn’t work, you two are old enough to still be mature.” She giggled when Lily threw a pillow at her for the joke about her age.

“This is what I love about talking with you, you basically just validate the decision I already made and we both act like you did something.” Lily joked.

“It’s a system that works for us.” Zany laughed.

“Oh, I meant to ask you before you left, can you cook your dirty rice for the dinner Tuesday night?” Lily asked.

Zany sighed dramatically. “I guess. I swear, all I do is take care of you two,” she said jokingly. They sat in comfortable silence until Zany couldn’t fight off her exhaustion anymore. Standing she said, “Well, I’m calling it a night.”

“I’m gonna wait for this load to finish in the wash and then I’ll be up. Goodnight, slut.”

“G’night, tramp.” Zany replied as she walked up the stairs. She walked into her bedroom and out of habit touched the picture of her and her mother at her college graduation. Making sure her alarm clock was turned on for tomorrow, she turned off the light and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.


	2. Chapter 2

On Monday, Sam, Julia, Dean, and Castiel all went straight into the office from the airport after returning to Charlotte from Las Vegas. As they pulled up to Novak Racing headquarters, Castiel and Julia headed up to their offices while Sam and Dean headed down to the garage. While on race day, Julia was the team spotter, every other day she was in charge of inventory. She made sure that everything they used in Las Vegas got replaced or replenished before the car and tools were hauled off to Arizona.

Logging onto her laptop, she smiled to see an email from Sam about the parts and amounts they used yesterday. _He must have sent this after I fell asleep last night. That man never turns off_ , she thought pleasantly. After placing the orders, she was surprised to see she had been on the phone with suppliers for almost 3 hours. Hearing her stomach growl, she pushed back from her desk and headed off in search of Sam in the garage to see if he wanted food too.

In the stairwell, her phone went off indicating she had gotten a message in the group thread she kept with Lily and Zany. She pulled up the message and swore when she read Zany’s message, “Off early. Fucking suspended because of yesterday. Text me grocery list for your parts of dinner tomorrow.”

_What the fuck is going on over there?_ She thought bitterly after she responded to Zany with her list. She knew better than to try and comfort her cousin right now. Lily had mentioned that she had a dinner date tonight so Julia knew that it was up to her to make sure her cousin wasn’t alone tonight. She approached the garage and got Sam’s attention, pulling him to the side to talk to him privately.

Dean watched Sam and Julia talking quietly in a corner of the loud garage. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw Julia gesturing wildly and Sam shaking his head in disbelief. _Are they actually having a fight?_ He was quickly proven wrong when Sam wrapped Julia in his arms and kissed the top of her head. He returned Julia’s wave as she walked back out of the garage and turned towards Sam as he walked next to him. “Everything alright, Sammy?” he asked.

“Yeah, no…I don’t know.” At Dean’s confused expression, Sam sighed. “Don’t tell anyone alright? And you can’t be a dick about it tomorrow night either.”

“Scout’s honor.” Dean replied primly. Ignoring his brother’s huff of disbelief, “What’s going on?”

“Julia just ducked out of here early because apparently Crowley suspended Zany for what happened yesterday,” Sam admitted quietly.

“What the fuck?! For what?! That dick’s car was only in the garage for about 20 laps. That’s a pretty good turnaround considering what that car looked like,” Dean protested.

“What YOU made that car look like,” Sam acidly reminded Dean, “When are you going to realize that your actions affect more than just yourself?!”

“Don’t fucking start, Sammy! How the hell am I responsible for how her team reacted to a crash?! Intentional or not, crashes happen all the damn time! If her or her team can’t handle it, then it’s time for a career change!” Before Sam could respond, Dean turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.

Sam sighed dramatically. He loved his brother almost as much as he loved Julia. But he knew that if Dean didn’t get his shit together quickly, his brother was going to be looking for a job. It was that and the fear that many of the friends and family Dean had surrounded himself with would get the axe as well that caused Sam to have these fights with Dean on a recurring basis.

Shaking off his dark thoughts, he turned away and headed back towards the rest of the crew who tactfully pretended they hadn’t heard yet another fight between the Winchester brothers. The only thing everyone seemed to agree on nowadays was that Dean needed to win another race, another championship soon and they were hell-driven to do their parts to make that happen.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to cancel tonight?” Lily asked as she fastened her earrings.

Julia and Zany looked up from the couch with wineglasses in their hands. “Absolutely not. You’re entirely too stunning to be hanging around with me and this bridge troll,” Zany joked about Julia. Ignoring Julia’s playful smack, she continued, “Besides, you better come home with steamy sex stories to cheer me up.”

“Jesus, Zany, this is their first date,” Julia said, “They’re not gonna sleep together.”

“How do you know, Julia?” Lily teased. “Why should you to be the only ones getting laid?” she asked not noticing a wince cross Zany’s face.

When everyone had stopped laughing, Lily threw on her coat and said her goodbyes. After she left, Julia turned back to Zany, “I still can’t believe you got suspended after you got his car back out there in 20 laps. How much faster were you supposed to work?”

Zany shook her head and finished the wine in her glass. “That wasn’t why I was suspended. I was suspended for a ‘Lack of cooperation and creating internal strife’,” she quoted.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Basically, Lisa Braeden didn’t like that when she got in my face and cussed at me, I returned the favor. Especially in front of the team. Rumor is, she cried to Christian about it later and got that snowball rolling.”

Julia choked on her wine. “You cussed out Lisa Braeden?!”

“I didn’t ‘cuss her out’. I just politely requested that she do the team a favor and fuck off.” Zany couldn’t help but smirk at the look of shock on her cousin’s face.

“You’re my hero,” Julia said after a minute, “Do you know how badly everyone wanted to tell her the same thing when she was haunting our pits looking for Dean?”

“Consider it a friendly gift to your team,” she replied, “Enough about work though. Wanna watch a bad movie and pop some popcorn?”

“Sounds perfect.”

 

“Mr. Novak? Ms. Callahan called to say that she will be joining you for dinner tonight.”

“Excellent, Hannah. Can you please call Gabriel and let him know that dinner for tonight is set?”

“Yes, sir.”

Castiel watched his assistant walk out of his office before turning to the windows that overlooked downtown Charlotte. As much as he loved the races, he was glad that the Easter break was only a few weekends away. He was getting worn out from everything. He was facing pressure from Gabriel to fire Dean and replace him with someone more malleable, albeit less talented. His father was giving no advice, just telling Castiel to do what he thinks is best.

The business man in Castiel saw the logic behind firing Dean. But he would never do it. Since Dean’s father died in a fiery car crash, Dean and Sam had been all but family. Gabriel had told Castiel once that their father had done his duty and seen if Mary, John’s ex-wife had wanted the boys but she didn’t want to cramp her divorcee freedom with two boys she had borne but not raised. Luckily, the boys had never found out about that since when Castiel’s father had floated the idea of going to their mother, the boys had begged to stay with the family they knew. And the rest, as you say, is history. The three boys grew up together and while Sam and Dean went straight into the racing world, Castiel made a pit stop at college before joining his father’s ranks.

Being a part of his father’s ranks and the Winchesters’ best friend is what put Castiel in the difficult position he was now in. His brother’s idea of how to handle Dean would not only piss off Dean but also Lily. And although Castiel had never spoken of his attraction to Lily, he knew that after tonight she would never feel the same way about him. If yesterday’s phone call reflected a modicum of her feelings towards Dean, Lily was not going to enjoy her new assignment.

Castiel had managed to push Lily and Dean from his mind for the rest of the day as he went through the motions of doing work for his other responsibilities of Novak Racing. As he changed from his suit into a more casual pair of slacks and blazer, Lily started to creep back into his mind. The fact that she has managed to keep Dean as one of the most popular drivers in the league while expertly downplaying Dean’s innumerable screw-ups just showed how talented she was at her job. _Beautiful and talented_ , Castiel thought. He was used to exerting a lot of effort not to be caught staring into her gray eyes that seemed to compliment her strawberry blonde hair. Castiel shook his head to clear his mind as he headed to the restaurant.

When he arrived, Gabriel was already there despite his usual reputation for tardiness. They shook hands and ordered drinks as they waited for Lily’s arrival. “This is not going to go well, Gabriel, you do know that right?” Castiel asked.

“I know” Gabriel replied. “Why do you think I brought you along? She’s less likely to take a swing at her cute boss rather than me.” He added with a laugh.

Castiel just rolled his eyes at his brother and then saw Lily coming to the table. His mouth went dry at the sight of her. Her hair was pulled into a braided half-pony style with the loose hair gently curled. Her black and white dress clung to her body and went perfectly with her silver pumps. As she approached the table, she stopped at the sight of Gabriel and though her smile dipped a little, she kept it up as she started towards the table again.

“Evening, Mr. Novak.”, Lily said to Castiel before turning to Gabriel. “And Mr. Novak. I didn’t know you would also be joining us for dinner.”

As she said that, Castiel realized with a dropping sensation in his stomach just what Lily thought tonight was. She thought it was a date. He could kick himself for not clearly saying that tonight was business. And he sadly realized that after tonight, he’d probably never get the chance to take her out on a **real** date.

After she ordered a drink and they all ordered their food, Castiel realized that throughout the entire meal, she wouldn’t look at him. She uncharacteristically kept her eyes down on her food unless she was responding to Gabriel’s shameless and usual flirting.

After all the plates had been cleared away, Lily finally looked at Castiel, “So, Mr. Novak, now that we’ve eaten, shall we discuss whatever the point of this dinner is?”

Castiel swallowed hard and began, “We’ve noticed your PR skills and decided to change up your responsibilities. For now this is to be a temporary position but that is not set in stone…”

“Forgive me for seeming brusque but what exactly would I be doing in this new position?” Lily asked when Castiel trailed off.

“You will be handling all and only Dean Winchester’s publicity. He has been in need of a publicist ever since the last one quit and watching you handle not only his press conference but also hearing how you later handled him has us at Novak Racing convinced that this is the perfect fit for you.” Gabriel said, speaking for his speechless brother.

To Lily’s credit, she managed to handle her shock and disappointment well. “Are you sure that would be a good idea, Mr. Novak?”, she asked Gabriel. “I’m sure you know that Dean does not have the best opinion of my cousin, and by extension, me.”

“Dean has proven that he is incapable of handling his own publicity at this point so he will be told that if he wants to continue driving my father’s car, he will be working with you in a respectful manner”, Gabriel said.

Castiel finally spoke again. “I had Hannah schedule lunch for you two tomorrow. I will be calling him tomorrow morning to inform him of this decision. His schedule is clear for that time. Are you able to do lunch at one o’clock tomorrow?” Castiel asked.

Lily looked up at him slowly. “Yes, sir. I will make myself available. Thank you very much for this new and challenging opportunity. If you’ll please excuse me, I should get home and get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.” As she rose, Castiel and Gabriel rose to shake her hand goodbye.

As she walked away, Castiel looked down and realized that while she had taken her clutch with her, she had accidentally left her phone on the table when she had cleared her lunch hour schedule. He grabbed it and rushed to the exit to see her waiting for the valet to hail her a cab. As he got closer, he noticed the moisture in her eyes.

“Lily”, he said as he approached, “Are you alright?”

“Ye-Yes, Mr. Novak. Just a still a little shocked by tonight’s events that’s all.”

“Lily…Ms. Callahan, I didn’t mean to misrepresent what tonight was.” Castiel said with regret in his voice.

“No, sir. It’s my fault. My thoughts got away from myself and forgot all of my ethics and professionalism. I just ---“ Lily didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as Castiel cupped her neck and pulled her into a deep kiss. Her brain stopped working as she couldn’t think past the feel of his lips on hers. Just as she was running out of air, Castiel broke the kiss and looked down at her with piercing blue eyes.

“Tonight’s dinner was in no way representative of my personal feelings for you. Please remember that, Lily. Your car is here. We will talk more tomorrow after your meeting with Dean. Deal?”

Lily could only nod as Castiel held the taxi door open for her and handed over her phone. She quickly got in her car and pulled away. It wasn’t until she was stopped at a traffic intersection that she leaned her head back and asked herself, _What the hell just happened?_ When she pulled into her driveway, her thoughts were no less scrambled. She walked into the living room and saw Zany still on the couch with yet another glass of wine as she watched trash TV.

“Hey,” her cousin said as she came in, “You’re home kind of early from your date. What happened?”

“Turns out it was a business dinner which means I dressed like a skank. But it did end interestingly.” Lily said with a smirk on her face.

“Oh, really?” Zany arched her perfectly manicured eyebrow in question. She always said: “Just because I’m a mess doesn’t mean I have to look like one.”

“Yeah. Castiel came after me to give me my phone and we…kind of made out for a minute.” Lily said with a blush coming across her prominent cheeks.

“I thought this was a business dinner that you just mistook for a date? Or did you burn the candle at both ends tonight?” Zany teasingly asked her cousin.

“It was a bit of both actually. They’re reassigning me at work.” Lily admitted,

“Why the hell would they do that? I saw your press conference and you did great with what you have.” Zany protested.

“I know. I’m now solely Dean’s PR person and I’m supposed to meet with him tomorrow for lunch. I’m pretty sure he’s not even going to show. He hates me,” Lily said sadly.

Zany chuckled with self-deprecation. “He won’t make your life hell. He knows better. Sam and Julia won’t let him. Plus out of the three of us, I’m sure you’re not the one he hates the most.”

“Sure. Hey Zany? Thanks for this. I know things are rough right now but I really appreciate you supporting me and Julia no matter what your bosses tell you. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Lily. Have sweet dreams of Castiel.” Zany said while laughing at Lily’s expression.

 

The next day, Dean jumped awake at the sound of his phone. He knocked more than a few empty liquor bottles out of the way to try and get the phone before his voicemail picked up. He found the phone that was blasting AC/DC’s ‘For Those About to Rock’ and growled a greeting into it upon answering.

“Good morning, Dean! Did you get to bed at a decent time last night?” Castiel asked briskly

“Why don’t you go straight to hell?” Dean asked in reply.

“I can’t. I’m too busy trying to save your job. Anyway, I need you up and dressed. A car is picking you up in an hour to take you to a lunch meeting.”

“What the hell, Cas? You’re not my personal assistant. Don’t make appointments for me.” Dean responded angrily.

“This is a meeting for your place at Novak Racing. You’re going to be meeting with your new publicist, Lily Callahan.”

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND?!” Dean screamed into the phone.

“Castiel, why don’t you let me handle this? Mr. Winchester, this is Gabriel Novak. We were anticipating some resistance to this strategy. That’s why I’m included on this call to let you know that despite your close friendship with my brother and your connection to this family, if you do not attend this meeting and begin displaying **significant** progress towards repairing your public image, you will no longer be driving my father’s car. Is that understood? The next words out of your mouth will either be ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘No, sir’. Now, do we have a deal?” Gabriel said. He thought he would have to step in for no other reason than preventing Dean from taking his frustrations out on his and Castiel’s friendship.

“…Yes, sir.” Dean said begrudgingly.

“Good. Castiel will see you after lunch to see how the meeting went. Have a great day Mr. Winchester.” Gabriel said before hanging up the extension.

“Dean, I know you’re not happy but please listen to me. This is the only thing I could arrange that allowed you to keep your job. I know you’re popular with the public but some of your antics have the League officials calling for your termination.” Castiel pleaded with Dean.

Dean could only respond with a sigh. “I know you’re right, Cas. Thank you for sticking your neck out this far for me. Every time I think that I’m getting back on track, Lisa shows back up and I fuck up all over again. I just don’t understand how she could lie to me for 5 years about him. I thought he was mine and I loved him; I still love him. But now that we’re not together, she won’t let me see him anymore.”

“And that’s the part of you that needs to be shown to the public and the League. That’s what Lily is here to do. Can you promise me something?” Castiel asked.

“What?”

“Can you promise to go easy on her? She’s not Lisa, she’s not Christian. She’s done nothing to you and she’s just doing her job. I think I…care about her and I don’t want her to quit her job because of you.”

“Alright, Cas. I’ll be nice. For you. Talk to you soon. Bye.” Dean promised with a laugh.

 

Dean and Lily’s lunch meeting had gone as well as it reasonably could. Dean had been surly and practically non-responsive until she had made it clear to him that she thought it best to focus on his present and future reputations rather than attempting to cast his past actions in a more favorable light.

_Probably because there is no favorable light that could_ , Dean thought with a snort as he rode in Lily’s car back to Novak headquarters for a wrap-up meeting about their lunch meeting. _Too many frigging meetings. Makes my balls itch._ He made small talk with Lily as she drove her tiny Fiat back to the office and tried really hard not to be a backseat driver.

“You know the speed limit’s more of a guideline right?” he finally asked after seeing that she was going exactly 45 miles an hour.

Her eyebrows lowered in confusion. “No it’s not. Jesus, are you like this with everyone?”

“Nope. Just people I like to annoy,” he responded snidely, “Or is 45 just the fastest this clown car will go? Christ, my knees are in my ears.”

“I’m sure there were plenty of taxis more than willing to take you back, Dean. But no, you wanted to ‘be green’ which I now know means you basically wanted to annoy the shit out of me.”

He grinned. “Yahtzee.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she grinned at a thought, “What do you think it’d look like if Sam was in here?”

Dean threw back his head and laughed. “Now I definitely have to get him in this thing.”

With the mood between them significantly improved, they entered the building together and headed to Castiel’s office until Dean was waylaid by Bobby with some questions. After Dean indicated that he’d catch up with her, Lily kept heading towards Castiel’s office. She forced away the awkwardness she felt at having a meeting with her boss about his best friend. A boss who just last night had kissed her like no one ever had before.

When Hannah let her into his office, she saw him looking pensively out the window while Sam sat in a chair across the desk, swinging his foot impatiently. She saw Sam raise an interested eyebrow when Castiel shot out of his chair and quickly walked over to her.

Futilely trying to hide her blushing cheeks she said, ”Afternoon, Mr. Novak. Hi, Sam. Dean is going to be a little late. He’s talking to Bobby, he says ‘Hi’ by the way. He’ll be here soon. Are you two still coming to dinner tonight?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Anything we should bring?” Castiel asked.

“Nope. It’s all taken care of. Julia’s doing the entrée, I’ve got dessert, and Zany’s making her should-be-famous dirty rice,” Lily replied.

“Speaking of which, I hear I owe her a beer…” Sam said with a smile. When Lily looked at him in confusion he asked, “Didn’t they tell you why she was suspended?”

She shook her head in response. “She didn’t want to talk about it last night before I had to go to dinner.” She glanced quickly at Castiel. “And when I got home, we only chatted for a minute before we went to bed. Why? What’d she do?”

“What’d who do?” Dean interrupted as he walked into the office like he owned the place, ignoring the scowling Hannah. ““Hiya Sammy. Cas.”

Sam hesitated for a second at the thought of telling Dean what had really happened on Sunday. Not seeing a graceful way to deflect, he sighed before admitting, “According to Julia, when Christian’s car was getting fixed in the garage on Sunday, Lisa was being a bitch and screaming at everyone. After they fixed the car, Zany got into it with her and told her to ‘fuck off’. That’s why she got suspended. Lisa got Christian to get Uriel to suspend her on some ‘creating strife’ bullshit.”

Everyone was silent until Lily spoke up, “That bitch.” Instantly remembering who she was talking to, she looked at Dean’s thunderous expression and apologized. “Sorry, Dean. I didn’t mean---“

“No. You’re right. Trust me, I’ve called her worse in the past few months,” he said, waving off her apology. “But can they suspend her like that?” he asked Castiel. “Can you do anything?”

Castiel leaned back in his chair and looked at Lily and Dean, “Unfortunately not. If she were my employee, then I could complain to the League of her treatment. But she’s on their team voluntarily. As stupid as it is, if it’s in their team rules, she can be suspended or fired for anything. I’m literally not allowed to get involved in intra-team conflicts. All I can do is offer her a position here.”

Lily spoke up. “She wouldn’t take it. She doesn’t want to be seen as running away, she doesn’t want to take a demotion, and she certainly doesn’t want to force Benny out as car chief. No other team will touch her because the environment at Crowley Enterprises is so toxic that they’re afraid she’ll bring that with her.”

Sam said, “It sounds like she’s stuck there. And unfortunately, she just painted a bigger target on her back.”

They silently processed the depressing news until Castiel changed the subject. “How was your meeting? Productive?”

Lily responded, “Very. We’ve agreed that Dean’s past should stay in the past while we look ahead at shifting him away from the tabloid narrative.”

Sam snorted, “That’s a long shot after this weekend.”

Dean looked at his brother, “What do you mean?”

“C’mon Dean. You wreck into your rival the same day he’s seen with your ex? And on top of that, your brother’s girlfriend’s cousin is suspended for getting in a spat with the same ex on the same day?” Sam just shook his head, “Whoever said racing wasn’t a family game must not have been doing our kind of racing.”

“That’s exactly why my job description has changed, Sam. That’s the tabloid narrative that no one is going to hear about last Sunday,” Lily replied.

As she went into detail explaining her strategy of marketing Dean to the public, Sam’s mind wandered off and started thinking about the next race. _Christian will have his sights out for Dean. And I have no idea how to make Dean realize that he cannot retaliate for any of this._

When the meeting ended, Sam, Dean, and Lily all stood to leave when Castiel asked Lily to stay behind. Ignoring Sam and Dean’s smirks, she sat back down as they shut the door behind them. She looked down at her hands waiting for Castiel to speak.

“Ms. Callahan…Lily,” Castiel corrected himself, “I wanted to apologize if I offended you last night.”

She looked at him and he saw something flash in her slate gray eyes. “Are you referring to my mistake of thinking it was a date?”

“Uh, no,” he nervously began, “I’m sorry if my kissing you was inappropriate and unwelcome.”

“Inappropriate, yes. Unwelcome, absolutely not,” she admitted with a tone that reminded him of how Zany always mouths off to Dean.

His heartbeat sped up with renewed hope. “I suppose I should apologize again for causing you to think last night was a date.” When she waved off his apology, he continued, “I’d like to take you out on an actual date?”

“Absolutely,” she replied embarrassingly quickly. After they set the date for next Monday, she stood to leave. She noticed the satisfied smirk on his face and realized that just maybe, he wasn’t quite as innocent as he liked to pretend to be.


	3. Chapter 3

While her cousin’s relationship with her boss was beginning to bud, a few miles away, Zany was determined to get the romance back into her relationship with Jacob. The fact that it had been two months since they’d had sex, and even longer since she’d _enjoyed_ the sex, had been worrying her for a while. She had decided to surprise him at work with lunch and maybe convince him to take the afternoon off.

She headed first for the practice track and garage where Jacob usually worked and hung out with the rest of the pit crew. She gave her teammates casual nods as she walked through the garage. While she was only suspended from work and not banned from the office, she didn’t want to poke the bear by calling more attention to her presence than necessary.

“Hey! Z!”

Zany turned to see Meg running up to her with her black hair bouncing in a tight ponytail. She smiled at her one true friend on the team. “Hey, Meg! Miss me yet?”

Meg laughed richly, “Always.”

“How is prep for Arizona going?”

“It’s going. Slow but steady. Crowley apparently told Christian to make sure Lisa makes herself scarce around the team, especially you, on race days.”

Zany looked at Meg in shock. “You’re shitting me! If he’s taking my side, why the hell am I still suspended?”

Meg shrugged. “He probably doesn’t want to start a precedent of overruling Uriel and Alastair in personnel matters?”

Zany chuckled in response. “Yeah, you’re probably right. How’d you get so smart in the day I’ve been gone?”

“Shut up. I’m like Dumbo; I didn’t need the feather to fly, it was in me the whole time. I’m so smart now that I can guess you didn’t come here today just to see my pretty face. Jacob’s been in the office for an hour or so.”

Hugging her friend goodbye, she headed up to the office and stopped to greet some of the office staff. When she ran into Rowena, Crowley’s assistant, she was directed to Bela Talbot’s office. Confused, she headed in that direction. _What the hell would Legal Counsel, Bela, need to do with Jacob?_ As she approached Bela’s office door, she heard what she thought was moaning and gasping.

Later, when she looked back, she wondered why she opened the door. Her heart knew what was happening before her brain had figured it out. Her brain was masochistic; it needed to torture her heart with the image of Jacob leaning against the wall with his pants around his ankles and a topless Bela’s face in his crotch. She didn’t remember leaving the building, making it to her car, and driving around Charlotte before finally heading home, but she was finally snapped out of her daze by the realization that her phone had been ringing nonstop. Seeing Jacob’s name and face on the Caller ID, the despair she felt was quickly replaced by white-hot rage as she ignored his call and turned off her phone before stomping into her house.

Lily was just finishing up her dessert dish when Zany came through the door. With barely a greeting, Zany stomped up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. When she came downstairs in a tight sports bra and basketball shorts, she waved off Lily’s reminder that she still had to cook her portion of dinner before heading down into the basement. Lily exchanged a worried look with her sister as they heard the stereo they kept down there start blasting out heavy metal music.

Zany tried to block out the pain and the tears as she started hitting the punching bag that was hung on the opposite side of the basement from their laundry alcove. _Goddamn you, Jacob_ _,_ she thought bitterly, _Bela?! You’ve been cheating on me with that limey twat?_ She started punching harder and harder, as if she was trying to punch away the image that was now seared into her brain. 45 minutes had gone by before the burn in her arms made her stop and turn down the music. Her vision started to blur with tears when she heard her cousin calling her name.

“Yeah, Jules?” she answered, wiping away sweat and tears.

“Were you still going to cook part of dinner?” Julia asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, I just had to work off some steam first. How long do I have?”

“Uh, they’re already here.”

Zany cursed. “Sorry. Give me 10 minutes and I’ll be cooking. How pissed is Lily?”

“She’s alright. I think.” Julia admitted.

Zany snorted in response. Jogging up the stairs and past her cousin, she stopped short when she almost ran into Dean who was just coming out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand. When she stumbled, Dean instinctively reached out with his free hand to steady her. They both stopped breathing for a second until they realized Dean’s hand was still gripping her bare waist.

“Whoa there. Where’s the fire?!” Dean joked as he dropped his hand. He swallowed hard after getting a better look at her face. Her skin was dewy and she was still slightly out of breath. _She looks like she just got fucked_ , he thought jealously. She took a step back and walked past him without saying a word as she went upstairs.

Dean looked at Castiel and Sam with confusion and only got shrugs in response. Both of his brothers had lectured him on the drive over about not instigating any arguments with Zany or her boyfriend for the sakes of Julia and Lily. He looked at the girls with hands innocently spread, “Did I manage to do something already?”

Lily slowly shook her head after making sure she still heard the shower running. “She came home like that about an hour ago. She hasn’t even said anything to me yet.”

“Something definitely happened,” Julia added, “All I’ve managed to get out of her is that she needed to work off some steam.” The conversation stopped immediately as they all heard the shower turn off. Sam suggested they head out onto the patio to enjoy the mild March weather and give Zany the space she obviously needed.

When Zany came downstairs five minutes later, she saw the five of them in the backyard and smiled sadly. She began pulling out all the ingredients she had bought yesterday for her dirty rice. It was one of the only links to her absent father she had. Apparently her father was made up of Chickasaw, Creole, French, and African heritage and this family recipe had been passed down and left behind when her father left. She had never managed to glean any more information from her mother before her death so she had given up hope of knowing more about her father.

As it always did, this recipe caused her repressed feelings of abandonment to rise to the surface and coupled with the news about Jacob, her emotions became too much and the tears began to spill down her face. She quickly grabbed and started chopping the onion as a way to excuse her tears when she heard the patio door open. Expecting whoever it was to return quickly to the laughter outside, she jumped when she heard Dean’s deep voice close behind her and hissed when she accidentally cut her finger with the knife soaked in onion juice.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt. “Nothing,” she muttered, hoping he would go away as she ripped a square of paper towel off the roll and wrapped it around her cut finger. When she felt a heavy, warm hand on her shoulder turning her around, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

_Holy shit, her eyes. They’re glowing green now. She’s beautiful…_ He didn’t think he had ever been this close to her before, especially without his brothers or her cousins around, but he still didn’t remember her eyes being that green before. Clearing his throat in embarrassment, he asked, “So what kind of onions are those?”

Confused, she answered slowly, “They’re just regular white onions. Why? Are you allergic?”

“Nope. Are you though?” he asked pointedly.

She quickly caught his drift and lowered her eyes. “Cutting onions make people cry. It’s pretty common actually.”

“Yeah, but not that much. Tell me what’s wrong. Is this because of your suspension?” When she looked back up at him with surprise, he continued, “The whole team thinks you’re a hero for telling her off. I guess I owe you a beer.” When he handed her the second beer he had grabbed out of the fridge, she used the dull side of the butcher knife still in her hand to pop the top off and impressed, he raised his eyebrow in appreciation.

She shook her head, “Sorry Dean, but I didn’t tell her off for you. I don’t like people trying to tell me how to do my job.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Sensing her hesitation, he sighed, “Look, it’s the one day of the month that I’m actually attempting to be a decent human being. Consider yourself lucky.”

On a soft chuckle, she took a deep breath before admitting, “I found my boyfriend cheating on me today. With a coworker.” She noticed his free hand clenching into a fist and immediately put her foot in her mouth. “Shit. I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear this. And I have to finish cooking.” When she turned away, his fist opened and he grabbed her cut hand.

Noticing her hiss of pain, he raised her hand for a closer look and pulled away the paper towel. Quickly wetting the paper towel in the sink, he held her hand softly as he gently cleaned away the blood and dried paper towel that had gotten stuck around the cut. Her hands were a contradiction; they were unbelievably soft but he saw the light nicks and scars that he knew were also on his own rough hands from working in the nooks and crannies of cars.

Before he realized what he was doing, he turned her hand palm-up and softly ran his fingers over the blue veins at the base of her wrist. His eyes finally raised to hers and he saw the confusion, questions, sadness, and something more in her eyes that he knew were also in his. Clearing his throat again, he dropped her hand and said, “Julia wanted to know how long until she can start the chicken.”

Swallowing roughly, she spoke in a gravelly voice, “Tell her she can start in about 15 minutes.” She watched him nod awkwardly and take his beer back out onto the patio and shut the door behind him. It was then she reminded herself to breathe before she shakily turned back to the rice and got back to cooking to distract herself from yet another confusing development. _What the fuck was that?!_ , she silently berated herself, _What was that reaction to him, you idiot?!_

Not finding an answer, she blocked everything out of her head and finished prepping the rice before setting it on the stove to cook. When she joined them on the patio with her half-drunk beer, she pasted a smile on her face and refused to look at Dean. _I don’t know how I’d react if that look was in his eyes again._ She greeted the other four and apologized for running late.

Silently groaning when she saw the only open chair at their patio table was between Dean and Sam, she sat quickly and started chatting with Castiel across the table. Internally, she was tense; maybe she’d never been this close to Dean before but the scent of him was wreaking havoc on her. She had promised Lily when this dinner was proposed that she would be nice to Dean, no matter what. _Hopefully desperately ignoring him counts as being nice._

“So, Zany,” Lily started cheerfully, “When is Jacob coming over?”

Her hands twitched involuntarily. She had no idea whether it was due to the thought of her cheating ex or because under the table, Dean had quickly put his warm palm on her thigh in support. She shifted quickly, feeling a stab of confusing disappointment when Dean let his hand fall away. “He’s not going to make it. Something came up,” she explained quickly.

Wryly noting that no one seem too upset by Jacob’s absence, she stood and offered to go into the house on a beer run. She quickly gathered the empty bottles and headed into the kitchen. She was rinsing the bottles out in the sink when Dean’s deep voice made her jump again.

“Why didn’t you tell them?”

“Jesus Christ!” she shrieked, “Will you stop sneaking up on me?” When he just looked at her, waiting for an answer, she sighed. “I didn’t say anything yet because I didn’t think this was the best setting for news like that. I’m going to tell them later tonight. Please don’t say anything, okay?”

Before he could respond, she heard a knock on the front door. Quickly she walked around him to the door with the empty bottles to put in the recycling bin by the garage. She opened the door and almost dropped the two bottles in her right hand in shock. Jacob was standing on her porch with his hands out in a peaceful gesture.

“Al, before you say anything, please let me explain,” he pleaded.

Her stomach, not her heart, twisted at his using his nickname for her. “There’s nothing to say. Get the hell away from my house.”

“Fine. I know you’re having dinner with your cousins. I’ll keep this brief,” he promised. When she didn’t say anything, he took that as his cue to continue. “I wanted to say I’m sorry that you found out the way you did. And that I hope we can still keep things professional at work.”

Hysterical laughter bubbled in her chest and spilled out. “That’s it?” she asked incredulously, “You’re not sorry for cheating, you’re just sorry you got caught? You’re pathetic, Jacob. Get the fuck of my face.”

“Now listen, Al---“

“I think it’d be best if you listen to the lady and take off, pal,” Dean advised from the entryway. He had been drawn by Zany’s laughter and was barely containing the urge to punch this dickbag to within an inch of his life.

Jacob looked Dean up and down critically, which was admittedly no small feat since he was 4 inches shorter than Dean. “Winchester,” he muttered in greeting.

“Asshole,” Dean responded tensely.

“You’re already running around making me look bad?” Jacob accusingly asked Zany. “Some things should stay private.”

“Like office blowjobs?” Zany asked acidly. “I’m not going to tell you again, get the hell off my porch.”

Jacob looked like he was going to argue but changed his mind when Dean took a step closer to her. “I’ll tell Bela and Lisa that you two say ‘Hello’.”

She sucked in a deep breath and threw her arm across the doorway to block Dean when she sensed he was about to kill her ex. She kept her arm across Dean’s warm chest until she heard Jacob’s car pull out of her driveway and head down the street. As soon as he left, the shaking started. The glass bottles in her hand clinked together loudly as tremors ran through her body.

Dean felt her shake as soon as that asshole left. Gingerly, he placed his hands on her shoulder and urged her to a sitting position on the hardwood floor. He wordlessly took the bottles from her and walked outside in search of the recycling bin. After putting the bottles where they belonged, he stood in the driveway and took several deep breaths. Once he was calm, he went back to Zany and found her in the same spot with her head rested on her arms. If he had expected to catch her crying again, he was mistaken; when she looked up at him, her hazel eyes were dry and soft.

She heard Dean coming back and lifted her head to look at him. She had been surprised to not hear him smashing the bottles or something else to calm the rage she had felt emanating off of him. Without a word, he offered her a hand to pull her to her feet. Clasping her arm around his forearm, and hating herself for noticing how firm it was, she was jerked up harder than she had expected and almost slammed into his chest. Putting her hands out to catch herself, she paused at the heat of him and met his tense gaze.

Dean looked down at her like he had never seen her before. A surge of lust shot through him as her full lips parted. As if against his will, he caressed the back of her neck and pulled her face closer to his. Internally, his brain was screaming at him. _Stop it! Don’t take advantage of her like this!_ His body ignored his brain and knowing he would be damned as a sinner anyway, he closed his eyes and pressed his lips against hers.

The shock stunned Zany for several seconds. She could do nothing more than just stand there as he placed tender kisses on her lips. She brought her hand to the side of his face, cupping his cheek and running her fingers through the hair at his temples. _This can’t be happening. Not to me. Not with him._ Responding to the added pressure of his lips, she opened her mouth. A little moan stuck in her throat when his tongue slipped inside and touched her, wet and oh so welcome.

For a man who spent his time driving at 200 miles an hour and maneuvering around other testosterone-filled men with the same goal, his touch was surprisingly patient and gentle. The little moan worked free, escaped into his mouth, and she let herself go. She let herself fall face first into the lust she’d been trying to hold at bay. His big hand slid down her neck to cup her breast through the layer of her shirt. Before he could touch her, his eyes flew open at the sound of his brother in the kitchen.

“Hey! Whatever happened to those beers?!”

Dean and Zany shot apart like they had been tasered. Guiltily, they refused to look at each other before Dean shouted back, “We were just checking out her Camaro!”

Zany turned away to go back into the kitchen when Dean stopped her. Her skin still came alive at his touch and she looked at him questioningly.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply.

She just nodded, ignoring her hurt feelings that he regretted something she didn’t; something she should regret too.

He watched her paste a fake smile on her face and walk away. Hating himself, he pressed his palm on his erection through his jeans in an attempt to make it go away. Once he had calmed himself down, he went back out onto the patio, taking Zany’s lead and pretending nothing had happened.

 

The rest of dinner went fairly well and after Castiel and Lily had cleared the dessert plates away, Sam asked Julia to go on a walk with him. The other four passed on joining them in favor of going into the living room and having another beer. Sam and Julia started down the street and before too long, she happily took his hand in hers.

“We should do this more often,” she proposed, “It seemed like everyone had a good time. Even Zany and Dean.”

“We really should,” he agreed, “Did Zany and Dean seem…weird to you?”

“Weird?” she questioned.

“Yeah, I mean, it took them forever to get beers and they both acted…off when they finally came back.”

She laughed and shrugged, “Well, they were checking out Ruby, Zany’s Camaro, weren’t they? Maybe they were just freaked out at actually agreeing about something. And I imagine a grease monkey like Dean would spend quite a lot of time drooling over that car. We’re lucky Dean didn’t bring the Impala or else they’d still be out there.”

Not quite buying it but not coming up with a better excuse, Sam shrugged. His brother and her cousin weren’t why he wanted to talk to her alone. “Julia,” he began nervously, “I wanted to ask you something.”

She stopped walking and looked up at her boyfriend. “Sam, is everything alright?”

Losing his nerve, he abandoned his idea and rushed to come up with another question. “Do you really love me?” he asked lamely.

Confused, she reached for his hand that had fallen out of hers. “Of course I do, Sam. More than everything. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, “I guess I’m just really happy with you and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t the only one.”

She smiled sweetly and pulled his head the considerable distance down to hers. “Samuel Winchester, I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. I---“

The rest of her sentence was cut off by Sam’s lip sealing across hers and taking her breath away. In the sunset, they kissed gently and with restrained passion until a small voice interrupted them.

“Hi, Miss Julia! Hi, Mr. Sam!”

Embarrassed, they broke apart and looked at little Jesse Turner, one of the cutest little boys in the neighborhood. They waved sheepishly at Jesse and his smiling mother before heading back towards the house with her hand now held in his.

 

When they got back to the house, they walked right into the beginnings of an argument between Lily and Zany in the living room.

“Look, Lily, I appreciate the offer but I don’t think traveling to Arizona on Castiel’s dime to hang out with my cousins who work for my rival team is really going to help things at work. Even if it isn’t against League rules, Crowley would HAVE to suspend me again, right Castiel?”

Castiel opened his mouth to respond but was silenced by Dean’s elbow in his ribs and the look of Death Lily was sending him.

Julia spoke up, “What the hell is going on?”

Lily turned to her sister, “All I did was suggest that she join us in Arizona since I have to travel with Dean now and I didn’t want her to be alone this weekend.”

Julia slowly responded, “Lily, she’s 28. And I think she has a point. It probably wouldn’t reflect on anyone too well.”

Lily realized she was outnumbered and threw up her hands. “Fine! Don’t complain to me when she won’t leave us alone because she’s so bored.”

Zany’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry. I’ll leave you alone. Starting now.” She started up the stairs and stopped about halfway up, “G’night guys. Thanks for a fun night.” Her eyes met Dean’s and she smiled sadly before continuing upstairs and slamming her bedroom door.

The other five let the echo of the door slam pervade through the tense silence. Sam and Julia looked at each other worriedly while Castiel watched Lily stomp into the kitchen. Dean, however, never moved. He still sat on the couch staring in the direction Zany had gone. He recognized the look of loneliness and self-loathing he had seen in her eyes; he saw the same look every day in the mirror.

Before long, the guys left and for once Dean was quiet and courteous enough to wait in the car while the couples talked. He hummed tunelessly while he sat in the car. He glanced at the house and noticed a bedroom with the blinds open and the lights on. Embarrassed, he looked away. He may be a bastard but he wasn’t going to peep on one of his brothers’ girlfriends.

The flash of red hair through the blinds drew his attention though. Looking again, he saw it was Zany standing in what must have been her room. He swallowed audibly when she crossed her arms at her waist and pulled her shirt over her head standing there in her jeans and her bra. He watched her rub the tension out of her neck and shoulders while the tattoo on her ribcage seemed to move on her skin.

He had noticed the tattoo when she came out of the basement with just a sports bra and shorts on. But his hand had inadvertently covered it then and she was too far away now so he still had no idea what the tattoo actually was. _I’m going to find out what that says if it kills me,_ he thought with determination, _Chances are it will kill me if I ever get to see her topless._ His mouth went dry when she moved her hands to unclasp her bra. “You’ve gotta be shitting me,” he said, sitting up in interest. As if she heard him, she quickly turned to the window and snapped the blinds shut.

Dean slumped back in his seat. “Fuck,” he muttered sullenly. _Do you really have reason to be disappointed?_ _,_ the little voice in his head pointed out. _You were spying on her._ Dean languished in his dark thoughts until his brother got in the driver seat of the Escalade, scaring the hell out of him.

“Damn, Dean. You’re jumpy. Everything alright?” Castiel asked as he slid into the backseat.

When Dean only grunted in response, Sam smiled determinedly and backed out of the driveway. As he headed towards their homes, Dean finally spoke up.

“So did you finally ask Julia to move in with you?”

Stunned, Sam looked at his brother before seeing Castiel’s grin through the rearview mirror. “What?”

“C’mon Sammy, don’t insult my limited intelligence. You’ve been gearing up for it for a while now.”

“I didn’t ask her. I know she won’t want to,” Sam responded dejectedly.

“How do you know, Sam?” Castiel piped in from the back.

“She’s told me before that she plays peacekeeper between Lily and Zany. If tonight was any indication, there hasn’t been much change,” Sam explained, “Lily and Zany fight more like sisters than Lily and Julia do.”

“Lily knows she was in the wrong,” Castiel said quietly, thinking back to the conversation they’d had in the kitchen.

“Wrong or right, I got the impression that it’s best to stay quiet and out of the way when they start arguing with each other,” Dean said with humor.

“Hell, the few times Julia’s tried to argue with ME, I’ve tried to stay quiet and out of the way,” Sam commented.

“Well, not everyone is as well-adjusted and cohesive as we are,” Dean said rhetorically, smiling when both Sam and Castiel snorted in response as they drove home to get ready to leave for Arizona the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post the next chapter! Major props to all the writers out there who can post stuff on the regular and be busy in the real world! Teach me your ways!

The next morning, Lily hesitated in front of Zany’s bedroom door. She knew waking Zany up any morning was a risk but their argument had left a bad taste in her mouth and she didn’t want to leave for Arizona without settling it.

“Zany?” she finally called out, knocking on her door firmly. There wasn’t any response and after a minute, Lily was about to give up and head downstairs. But as she turned away, the door swung open and Zany blearily rubbed her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I…umm, wanted to talk to you about last night.”

“Shit. Me too. Both of you. Is Jules already downstairs?”

Lily nodded and turned to walk with her cousin into the kitchen. When they got in, she saw her sister eating cereal and reading the news. Julia didn’t look up until Lily had crossed to the counter and leaned her hip against it and looked expectantly at Zany who had stayed standing on the other side of the kitchen table.

“What’s going on guys?” Julia asked hesitantly.

“I…um, wanted to apologize if I messed up your dinner last night by getting upset at the idea of going to Arizona. I know you were just being nice,” Zany said in one quick breath.

Julia quickly swiveled her head to look at Lily as she looked up from the floor and sighed.

“You’re good. I wanted to apologize for not considering how weird that would be for you. And I’m sure Jacob would have something to say too,” Lily joked but sobered after seeing the pain streak across her cousin’s face.

Julia had noticed it too. “Zany, did something happen with Jacob?”

Zany slowly sat at the table and willing the tears away, admitted, “I caught him cheating on me yesterday. With Bela.” She hung her head and let the tears fall. When she felt Julia’s arms close around her, she leaned her head on her cousin’s shoulder.

After a while, she looked up and saw Lily still leaning against the counter. While her hands clenched painfully into fists, her voice was soft. “Zany, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say anything last night?”

Shaking her head, Zany replied, “I didn’t want to mess your dinner up any more than I already had.” _Should I tell them about Jacob coming by and Dean driving him off? No. I don’t know what happened last night and I need some time to figure it out._

“Jesus Christ, Zany, you think we care more about a dinner than we do about you?” Lily asked heatedly.

‘It’s not that. It’s just, I’m embarrassed. Hell, I’m mortified. But no matter what, it’s my burden. Not yours,” Zany replied.

“Bullshit,” Julia said, “You’re family. And like it or not, we’re all you have left. So stow the ‘loner’ shit and start treating us like we’re cousins who give a fuck about you. Deal?”

Taken aback by Julia’s profanity-laced response, Zany could only nod in response. Lily shook off her shock to ask, “So what does this mean for your job?”

Zany shrugged.  “Nothing, I imagine. As far as they need to know, we broke up. I don’t think that anyone who knew he was two-timing me is dumb enough to say it to my face.” With a dark laugh, she added, “I’m almost grateful for this suspension now since I can avoid him until I’m sure I won’t cave his face in.”

“Far be it from us to stop you,” Julia replied.

Not wanting to think about Jacob any more than she already was, Zany less than gracefully changed the subject to the race and how they thought their drivers were going to do in the Arizona sun. They chatted pleasantly until Lily and Julia stood to head into the office.

Lily watched Zany hug Julia tightly and give her the usual reminder about wearing sunscreen. When Zany turned to her, she returned the fierce hug before asking, “Are you sure you’ll be okay alone until Monday?”

The soothing smile Zany gave her didn’t quite reach her eyes as she promised, “I’ll be fine. I need some peace and quiet to get back into my head space. Plus it’s been a while since I’ve been to Mom’s grave. I think I’ll go see that too.”

Not reassured, but unable to argue, Lily returned the smile before demanding, “Tell her we say ‘Hi’. And call anytime you need anything.”

“Will do,” Zany promised. She walked her cousins to the garage and waved goodbye as they drove away in Julia’s Ford Escape before she went back into the house and set the joint Spotify account to blast music on random to keep her dark thoughts at bay.

 

Lily and Julia had barely made it to the stop sign at the end of their street before Julia said, “Jacob can’t get away with this.”

Surprised, Lily looked at her little sister before looking back out through the windshield. “There’s nothing we can do,” she said sadly.

“There has to be something---“

“There’s nothing, Julia,” Lily said interrupting her, “He’s not on our team so we can’t get near him and even if we did, anything we do has the potential to cause more conflict between our teams.”

“But…shit, you’re right,” Julia admitted defeated.

“I wish I wasn’t.”

They continued the drive in silence before Lily gathered her courage to speak again. “Julia, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything, Lily, you know that.”

“I know you usually share a room with Sam but…do you think you can stay with me?”

Julia finally took her eyes off the road to look over at her sister. “Sure. What’s wrong?”

Lily refused to look up from her lap. “Sam won’t mind?”

Julia laughed. “He won’t. He’ll enjoy the peace and quiet. Now, stop avoiding my question. What’s up?”

With a sigh, Lily admitted, “I’m not sure what’s going on with Castiel and me. I don’t want to risk rushing things or taking things somewhere he doesn’t want.”

Julia’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“I’m afraid I’ll sleep with him.”

At Lily’s quiet admission, Julia burst out laughing before spotting the blush spreading across Lily’s cheeks. “Is that really such a bad thing?”

Lily frowned and sunk lower into the passenger seat. “You know how I can get. I just don’t want to make an ass out of myself. I mean, he barely said anything to me last night!”

“Lily, he’d have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to not want you,” Julia reassured, awkwardly patting her sister’s hand as she pulled the car into Novak headquarters parking lot. Getting out of the car, she grabbed their suitcases out of the trunk and handed Lily hers.

“What time are we heading to the airport?” Lily asked, struggling to pull the schedule out of her bag.

“1300,” Julia replied, “What’re you gonna do until then?”

“I have some more calls I can make for the charity golf tournament.”

“Are you Dean’s assistant or his publicist?” Julia joked.

“It’s part of my old job actually. The Novaks put it on. Dean’s just the face of it.”

“He’s a little more than that actually. Sam told me he donates some of his winnings from each race to different kid’s charities,” Julia admitted quietly as they walked into the office, “He always does it anonymously.”

“Jeez,” Lily said, shaking her head, “The shit he won’t let me tell the media.”

Julia only snorted in response as she walked to her sister’s office. When they rounded the corner, she was shocked to see Castiel leaning against her sister’s office door.

“Castiel!” Lily cried, “What are you doing here?”

Castiel nervously looked at Lily. “I was, um, hoping to speak with you. Privately.”

Catching the less-than-subtle hint, Julia quickly hid her smile before saying, “I should go find Sam in the garage and make sure they have everything packed up right.” She handed Lily her luggage and headed back down the hallway.

Lily dumbly watched her sister leave until Castiel cleared his throat and opened her office door. She began to adjust her bag to grab Julia’s when Castiel took both from her and carried them into her office with ease.

She followed him into her own office and quietly shut the door behind her. “Is everything alright?” she asked after another moment of awkward silence.

“I wanted to talk to you about last night,” Castiel explained, “I wanted to apologize.”

Lily’s heart sank. “Apologize?”

“I realized that I acted differently towards you because we were with our families. And I’m sorry for that.”

“Oh, it’s alright. I understand,” she lied, “Nothing’s defined so why tell people?”

Frustrated, he ran his hand through his thick black hair and Lily felt a tightening in her lower stomach, “It’s not that. I just…it’s been a while since I’ve been with anyone. I was afraid that being affectionate would upset Dean. But it’s not fair to you that I’m always taking care of Dean.”

Lily stepped out of her heels and leaned against her desk. “Trust me, I understand how that works,” Self-deprecatingly, she shook her head, “Turns out I picked a fight with Zany last night after she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. So you’re a much better brother than I am a cousin.”

“Hey,” Castiel said, stepping closer to her, “I’m sorry that happened to her but that’s the furthest thing from the truth.”

She raised her gaze from the floor and realized that without heels, she was eye-level with his chest. Licking lips that had suddenly become uncomfortably dry, she said, “Maybe we both need to learn to be a little less self-sacrificing.”

The blood drained out of Castiel’s head as she looked up at him. Swallowing thickly, he asked, “How so?”

Lily lifted her butt to sit fully on her desk and smirked when Castiel stepped closer. “For instance, I **should** make some calls about the golf tournament but what I’m going to do instead is kiss you like you kissed me at that valet station.”

Before he could respond, she pulled his head down to hers and slammed her lips against his. She ravaged his mouth, drinking in the scent of coffee and body wash that was uniquely him. Nothing else mattered as she focused on letting herself do something she had wanted to do for years. After what seemed like forever, she took pity on him and leaned back to gain her breath.

However, Castiel wasn’t finished. With a low grunt, he took control of her mouth, leaving her helpless to do anything besides cling to his biceps through his shirt. He grinned sinfully at her gasp as he touched her tongue with his. He could only hold himself in rigid control for so long before he was sliding his hands up her soft, creamy thighs until his long fingers skimmed underneath the hemline of her pink pleated midi skirt.

Lily moaned into his mouth at the fire his touch had created in her core. One of her hands left his arm to tangle in his finger-combed hair. With every tug on his hair, his hand inched closer to the juncture at her thighs where she needed to feel him the most. She finally broke away from his lips and threw her head back when his fingers ghosted over her soaked panties.

Castiel bent his head further to nip at her exposed neck as his fingers began to apply more pressure around, but not directly on, her clit. He felt Lily trembling and instinctively knew it was from the effort of holding still and not grinding herself into his hand. Meanwhile, he was as hard as steel and he could feel his heart racing as he finally made direct contact with her clit.

She had lost control and just begun to roll her hips against Castiel’s fingers when she heard ringing. Castiel leaned back and pulled his phone out of his pants. She frowned when Castiel swore and took several breaths before answering the call.

“Rufus!” Castiel greeted the sponsor, mainly to get Lily to understand why he took the call, “How are you? Everyone’s well here. We could use some more of that Johnny Walker Blue you keep stockpiled.” Castiel’s laugh turned into a frown as he watched Lily get off the desk and slip back into her heels. When she walked towards the door, he held her arm questioningly.

Lily ignored the question in his eyes and whispered, “Take your time.” When he let go of her, she straightened her skirt before quietly slipping out the door and heading for the bathroom at the end of the hall. Once in there, she made sure it was deserted and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair had fallen out of her braid. She splashed water on her face until her color had returned to normal and she rebraided her hair.

When she returned to her office, she was disappointed to find Castiel gone. With a sigh, she quickly went through her bag for a change of underwear and then flopped into her desk chair. Her bad mood vanished when she saw a post-it note stuck to her monitor reading,

Lily –

I’m so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. See you at 1.

\--- Castiel

 

Grinning like an idiot at the post-it note, she dug through her paperwork until she found the list of emergency contacts for each travelling employee. Feeling a bit like a stalker, she searched until she found Castiel’s private number listed as Sam’s secondary emergency contact. Pulling out her own phone, she quickly typed him a message, 'I got your note. Don’t sweat it. I owe you more than you owe me. See you at 1. :) '

She managed to stay busy with the golf tournament arrangements until Julia came to get her for the flight. Ignoring her sister’s questions about what Castiel had wanted, she wasn’t quite ready to admit that she had almost let her boss finger her on her desk like a horny teenager, she valiantly made the effort to act normal towards him when she saw he was also in the car. Lily sat between him and Dean in the backseat as they headed towards the airport.

Lily was pulled out of her traitorous thoughts by Dean’s voice as he asked, “So are you two together now?”

Before Lily or Castiel could answer, Sam jumped in, “Dean, for God’s sake, what did we talk about?! Be nice!”

“What?! It’s just a question! They’re practically eye-banging each other back here.”

Lily was surprised Julia didn’t break her neck from whipping around in the passenger seat to look at them. Her blush deepened as she realized everyone, even Sam, was looking at her for an answer. In a plea for help, she looked back at Castiel who understood what she was trying to ask without words.

“Lily and I are seeing each other. We’re having dinner when we get back. Is that a problem?” Castiel asked in a tone that indicated he didn’t care if they did have a problem.

“Absolutely not!” Julia cried gleefully, turning back to face forwards and elbowing Sam to get his attention back on the road.

Castiel looked over Lily at Dean and they shared a long look that Lily sensed transmitted much more information than her look with Castiel had.

After a moment, Dean shrugged and smiled before saying to Lily, “Wow. Is that kismet or what? Well, he likes you, you like him, so dayenu.”

Once the awkwardness was broken up by other conversations, Castiel smiled when he felt Lily’s fingers curl around his.

 

Dean was the last out of the car when they got to the small airfield where Novak Racing’s plane was kept. He grabbed his bag and watched Sam and Castiel carry Julia’s and Lily’s bags to the baggage handler. He was happy for his brothers, he truly was. But he also had never felt lonelier. Unbidden, his thoughts turned to the look in Zany’s eyes before they had left the night before.

_Dude, you really need to get her out of your head,_ a voice in his head told him. Ignoring that voice, he went over to Julia who was standing by the plane while Sam chatted with Garth and Kevin. “Hey Julia,” he greeted her, “What you doing?”

“Just enjoying the fresh air before we take off,” Julia answered, “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine for someone about to willingly get on a metal death trap,” Dean replied.

“Oh, good Lord,” Julia said with a laugh, “How do you drive race cars for a living but you’re afraid of flying?”

“Hey, what can I say?” Dean shrugged, “I’m layered and complicated.”

Julia snorted, “Like an onion.”

Seeing his opportunity, Dean took it. “Speaking of which, are onions the secret ingredient to Zany’s dirty rice? Because that shit was delicious last night.”

“Wasn’t it?!” Julia agreed, “I have no idea what the secret ingredient is. She won’t even tell us. She says that we only love her for her cooking so she won’t give it away so we can get rid of her.”

Dean laughed and shook his head, “How’s she doing by the way? After last night?”

Julia looked at him closely trying to gauge just how much he knew. _Sam knows about Jacob but I’ve been with him the whole time so he couldn’t have told Dean. Even if Castiel knew, there’s no way he could have told him either_. Slowly she said, “She’s alright. She and Lily made up this morning.”

Dean waved his hand impatiently, “Not that. Of course they’d make up. I meant about Jacob. He didn’t come back after we left, did he?”

Julia couldn’t contain her shock. “You know about Jacob? How the hell do you know?”

Still impatient, he crossed his arms, “She told me last night.” When he saw Julia start to get mad, he placated her, “I dragged it out of her. She seemed upset when she was cooking. Did he come back?”

“’Come back’?” she asked.

“She didn’t tell you?! He showed up when we were…checking out her car and she made him leave. She was pissed and shaken up about it.”

Julia frowned. “She didn’t tell us that part.”

_Shit._ With his mind racing, he quickly boarded the plane and tried to figure out how to warn her that he had accidentally spilled what was apparently a secret.

The solution came in the form of Lily who accosted him as soon as he got on the plane. “Dean, not to be insensitive but shouldn’t you change your emergency contact from Lisa?”

Confused, he took the paperwork out of her hand. He quickly read through the list until he found Zany’s cell phone number listed as the secondary emergency contact for Julia and memorized the digits. “Uh, yeah, sure. I’ll make the first one Sam and secondary Castiel. Even though they usually know when something goes wrong anyway,” he said with a laugh.

Pulling out his phone, he hurriedly typed a message to Zany’s phone, ‘Didn’t know you didn’t tell J&L about asshole coming by. Accidentally told Julia. Sorry.’

He tried to act normal as he updated the official paperwork with Sam and Castiel’s numbers until his phone chirped with a text message. He read Zany’s reply, ‘Is that all you told them?’ He replied, ‘Are you talking about the kiss? No, I didn’t tell them.’

Annoyed, he left his phone out when he got another quick reply, ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just didn’t want them getting the wrong idea about something you did just to make me feel better.’

He rolled his eyes. _Why are some women so blind to how hot they are?_ As the flight attendant began going through her safety spiel, including turning off cell phones, he typed back ‘It wasn’t like that. And you know it. You felt it too.’ Unable to wait for her reply, he turned off his phone and closed his eyes to try and sleep until they landed in Phoenix.

Julia watched Dean fall asleep at the drop of a hat before she turned back to Sam’s conversation with Benny. She had pulled Sam aside before they boarded the plane and told him what Dean said had happened last night at dinner. Sam still didn’t seem convinced that Jacob coming over had caused his brother and Zany to act as strangely as they had but he wasn’t able to come up with a better explanation.

Julia wasn’t sure what Sam was concerned about and asked him just that in hushed tones in a private corner of the plane.

“Julia, I just…I don’t know how to say this without you getting mad,” Sam admitted, carefully noticing that she was tense and ready for a confrontation.

“Rip the Band-Aid off then and just say it,” she demanded.

“Honey,” he said, “Dean’s a mess. That’s pretty much an accepted fact. And Zany, though I love her to death, isn’t much better.”

Julia took a step back in shock. “Sam, she’s my family. Lily and I are all she has left. You can say all you want about Dean, but how would you feel if someone else said that about him?”

“People say it all the time, Julia!” Sam said in a harsh whisper. “I can’t turn on the TV without hearing someone calling for my brother’s head usually at the expense of Castiel’s job too.”

“And how do you think that makes him feel, Sam, knowing that his own brother feels the same way as the talking heads who don’t know dick about him?” When Sam didn’t answer, she continued, “You don’t think I know Zany’s flaws and worry about her? She was just cheated on and Lily and I have to leave her alone for 5 days!” She tried blink away her tears. “I’m terrified that we’re going to get home Sunday and we’ll find that she’s opened a couple veins rather than be the ‘burden’ she thinks she is!”

When all of the fight went out of her and tears just down her face, Sam pulled her against his chest and rested his chin atop her head. “I’m sorry, Julia. Sometimes, I think I forget that everyone has their baggage. I’m gonna try and be better at it. Shit, do you remember what a mess I was before I found you?”

He heard her mutter against his chest, “How could I forget?” She looked up at him, “Do you remember how your brothers reacted to me at first? The same way you’re acting towards Zany now. Is it because you think there’s something there?”

Before he could answer, they heard Bobby’s gruff voice, “If ya idjits are quite done with your date night, do you wanna join the rest of class and do your jobs?”

They grinned at the harsh tone and sat back in their seats with Sam taking perverse pleasure in waking Dean up as roughly as possible.

While Dean started arguing with Sam about how rude it was to shake someone awake while on a “metal death trap”, Lily got Julia’s attention with a questioning look. She knew her sister was as good at reading lips as she was so she mouthed to Julia, _“Is everything alright with you and Sam?”_

Julia glanced over at him before nodding and mouthing back, _“I guess. Tell you later. Plus you still have to tell me what happened in your office with Castiel.”_

When Lily rolled her eyes and flipped her sister the bird, Julia simply giggled and turned towards Bobby to start doing her part to get Dean a win this weekend, and hopefully make it easier for him and Sam to get back to the way they once were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How are you liking the progression so far? Thoughts, comments, and constructive criticism are always appreciated!


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